Indian prisoner in Pak shifted to another cell after attacks

Peshawar, Sep 10 (PTI) A 31-year-old Indian prisoner,sentenced by a military court here for possessing a fakePakistani identity card, has been shifted to a separate cellafter he was attacked thrice by fellow inmates. Hamid Nehal Ansari, a Mumbai resident arrested in 2012for illegally entering Pakistan from Afghanistan reportedly tomeet a girl he had befriended online, was shifted last monthby prison authorities after receiving direction from PeshawarHigh Court to adopt security measures for protecting him. A division bench comprising Justice Musarrat Hilali andJustice Qalandar Ali Khan on August 4 had directed PrisonSuperintendent Masoodur Rehman to hold a meeting with humanrights activist Rakhshanda Naz and find a solution for safetyand security of Ansari, The Nation reported. Ansari was attacked and injured three times over the lastcouple of months and shifted to the hospital for treatment,the counsel added. He said even the head warden would subject him tobrutality and slap him on a daily basis without any reason. Anwar said that Ansari lodged a complaint about this withthe superintendent. Superintendent of the prison Masoodur Rehman confirmedthe incidents but insisted they’re of minor nature and thatsuch incidents did happen in prisons. Rehman also told the bench that Ansari, who was servingthree years jail term, had been kept in the death cell. Ansari had gone missing after he was taken into custodyby intelligence agencies and local police in Kohat in 2012 andfinally in reply to a habeas corpus petition filed by hismother, Fauzia Ansari, the high court was informed on January13 that he was in custody of the Pakistan Army and was beingtried by a military court. He was convicted by the military court for possessing afake Pakistani identity card and sentenced to three yearsimprisonment. PTIUZM